A Different Kind of Contact
by andrewjameswilliams
Summary: Allies and enemies old and new meet once again as first contact takes place between the Earth Alliance and the Minbari Federation *AU no Earth-Minbari War*
1. Part One

**A Different Kind of Contact**

**Authors Note: This story is an AU Babylon 5/Robotech story. The idea came after I watched Babylon 5: In the Beginning again and refused to leave me alone so I thought what the hell and decided to write it out. I was originally planning for this to be a one shot story but Cyclone persuaded me that the idea was a bit too good for that so instead you have this short two shot story. Hope you all like it. My thanks to Cyclone for beta reading this fic.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own the characters that I am about to mangle around for my own amusement. Sadly both Babylon Five and Robotech remain the properties of their original creators and I make no profit from their use so please keep the legal attack dogs – otherwise known as lawyers – firmly on a leash.**

* * *

_**Part One** _

**EAS Prometheus**

**July 23****rd**** 2245**

Commander Alan Chaffin frowned thoughtfully as he studied the readings that had just appeared on his sensor screen. The _Prometheus_ and the other five ships of her small but powerful task force had just defolded and continued approaching the suspected borders of the Minbari Federation in normal space – as while they could scan normal space even while folded, scan resolution wasn't high enough to provide more than basic information about the normal three dimensional universe, certainly not enough to properly carry out their mission. Now, the long range scanners had picked up a group of ships just inside Minbari territory – a group of ships where there shouldn't be any as, according to the Centauri, this area was far outside Minbari beacon transfer points.

"Captain," he called out looking over his shoulder at the captain's station which, like on all EarthForce vessels – and like on the Robotech Defence Force vessels that had preceded them – was located at the back of the bridge and on a slightly elevated platform. It gave the commanding officer of a ship a view over the entire bridge and a clear line of sight to the bridge windows and holographic HUD. "Sensors are detecting a group of silhouettes on the edge of our range."

Captain Michael Jankowski blinked and raised an eyebrow at the report. "I thought this area was well outside Minbari transfer points," he commented, wondering what the ships – if they were ships – were doing here. Assuming the information the Centauri had forwarded to EarthForce Command was accurate; it wouldn't be the first time the flamboyantly dressed, peacock haired aliens had given them misleading information.

"It's supposed to be, sir," Chaffin confirmed.

"So, what are they doing here?" Michael muttered to himself before speaking more loudly. "Any sign they've detected us?"

"Negative, sir."

"So they're not looking for us," Michael mused thoughtfully. "How many ships are there, Commander?" he asked in a more normal tone.

"I can't be sure; the Minbari are operating a stealth system similar to our own, but from the gravitic emissions, I would say were looking at two or possibly three large capital vessels and a number of smaller support ships."

"Show me," Michael instructed. Immediately, a projector field activated, and a holographic screen coalesced into existence, showing a repeat of the scan data and the computer's interpretation of it. It was clear that the Minbari were running with an active stealth system similar – but not identical – to their own stealth technology. While theirs was based off the dimension shift technology the Haydonites had given them before their betrayal, the Minbari system seemed to use a gravitational lensing effect of some kind to distort scan data, a distortion that the computer was able to compensate for enough to get them somewhat clear readings of the group of ships.

"Hmm," he mused aloud. "What's their course and speed, Commander?"

"They appear to travelling at approximately point two c, sir. Course indicated that they're heading out of their territory into the unknown regions."

"Curious. According to the Centauri, the Minbari rarely leave their own space and never in such large numbers," Michael commented. "Can we follow them?"

"Yes, sir, we can. But sir, the Minbari will soon enter homing range of the closest tachyon beacon in this region. When that happens, they're sure to open a jump point and return to hyperspace. We'd have to open a jump point ourselves to continue pursuit."

Michael grimaced slightly at that. Like most humans, he hated going into the other space that the local races referred to as hyperspace, the ever shifting fields of red and black were extremely disorienting. It was why they tended to prefer to just space fold to their destinations, though they had acquired jump gate and, from there, jump engines from the Centauri, allowing the local races access to their space and trade routes. Still, something told him that they needed to follow the Minbari, that it was important that they do so.

"Then that's what we'll do," he said at last. "Communications, inform EarthForce Command of our situation and intention to pursue the Minbari ships. Then instruct all ships to transfer power from space fold drives to jump engines."

"Aye, sir," Lieutenant Kyle Preston acknowledged from communications before carrying out the instructions. "Sir, EarthForce Command acknowledges our intentions, and all ships report they're beginning power transfer from space fold generators to jump engines."

"Very well. Commander Chaffin, keep an eye on the Minbari. The moment they jump back into hyperspace, advise navigation so we can jump."

"Aye, sir."

For several more anxious minutes, they continued silently tailing the Minbari from a distance, keeping as close a watch as possible on their power emissions. Finally though, Chaffin noticed a change on his screens. "Sensors report increased tunnel particle emissions," he reported. "The Minbari are generating jump points."

"Very well. Navigation, activate forward jump engines."

"Aye, sir, jump engines online."

"Jump."

As the last syllable left his lips, Michael kept his eyes on the front of the bridge and the huge wraparound viewport that gave the bridge crew of every human starship a breath-taking view of the stars. He watched as flickering orange coloured energies formed into a glowing point of light that shot both into and at the same time not into the distance forming the glowing orange funnel of an outgoing jump point ahead of the mighty Hayes-class battlecruiser. In seconds, they were through the hyperspatial vortex and into the swirling red and black maelstrom of hyperspace, swirls that immediately started to give him a headache just looking at them.

"Operations, close all blast shields," he ordered after a moment.

"Aye, sir. Closing blast shields," operations responded immediately. Immediately, there came a pronounced whirring and grinding sound as heavy armoured shutters closed over the viewports, cutting off the view of the chaotic space outside the ship. He knew similar shutters would be closing over every single viewport and airlock door on the ship, cutting off the views of space the crew normally enjoyed. The blast shields were old technology, developed during and just after the Third Robotech War in response to the kamikaze bridge-ramming tactics the Regis's branch of the Invid had periodically employed.

While defence barrier technology – especially for the pinpoint barriers – had improved immensely since that time, their own knowledge of barrier tech having grown to the point where they now rivalled what the Robotech Masters had had, they'd not retired the blast shields. That decision by the shipwrights had proven wise during the Dilgar Intervention as, while the Dilgar capital ships had lacked the ability to effectively target their ships except at point blank range – on the rare occasion they survived long enough to get that close – it hadn't stopped their Thorun-class fighters from making attack runs at the bridge of human ships guided by nothing more than the good old mark one eyeball. Indeed, there had been a number of instances where the bridge crews would have been killed by Thorun plasma cannon and missile fire if not for the blast shields.

"Sir, all blast shields are closed and sealed," operations reported after a moment.

"Understood," Michael replied before looking back at Chaffin who seemed to be fidgeting slightly uncomfortably. "Are you alright, Commander?" he asked concerned.

"Yes, sir, I'm fine," Chaffin replied, blushing slightly embarrassed. "It's just this space feels…well…wrong."

"I understand," Michael answered, and he did. It was another reason why humans didn't generally like going into this particular hyperspace layer. The ambient energy fields tended to make those with Invid ancestry – like Chaffin – uncomfortable, with the degree of discomfort depending on how much Invid blood they had. For someone like Alan whose grandfather had been a human form Invid, it wasn't too bad – just a distracting feeling of wrongness and, in some individuals, vertigo – but for a first gen hybrid, it actually made them extremely physically ill, to the point where some had been known to lapse into comas. Nobody was quite sure why it happened, but the leading theory was that it had something to do with the protoculture they had in their blood and cells reacting to the energy fields, protoculture that naturally lacked the shielding around a ship's reflex power plants and protoculture storage matrices.

"Any sign of the Minbari?" he asked.

Alan Chaffin was grateful for the distraction. _Sheesh, Dad wasn't kidding when he said this type of hyperspace was uncomfortable,_ he thought, even as he scanned his screens, looking for the gravitic wake trails being left by the Minbari ships, an orderly wake against the chaos of the space around them, thus it wasn't exactly easy to spot. After a long moment of searching, however, he found it.

"I've got them," he answered. "They're riding on the edge of the primary hyperspace beacon in this area. By my calculations, they'll reach their next inter-beacon transfer point in approximately four hours at their current speed."

"Understood. Maintain sensor contact," Michael ordered. "Keep feeding any changes in the Minbari course or speed to navigation. Navigation, continue pursuing the Minbari, but let's keep our distance. I doubt they'll be able to penetrate our stealth systems, but there's no point in risking it. If they do spot us, I want them to think we're just a gravitational echo."

"Aye, sir."

* * *

**Four Hours Later**

Z'ha'dum.

_The very name of this place stinks of darkness,_ Satai Delenn thought as she stood with the rest of the Nine, watching the holographic display that had shimmered into existence around them – a display that made it look, and almost feel, like the members of the Grey Council were standing in the void of space instead of a chamber deep within the armoured bowels of the _Valen'tha_. Filling the display ahead of them was a dark and ancient world, a world whose surface had long since been stripped clean of all life. Now, it was a scorched, parched desert, covered with craters and deep canyons, all the result of multiple orbital bombardments over uncounted millennia.

All in all, it wasn't a pleasant planet to look at. And it was a planet the _Valen'tha_ and her escorting cruiser, the _Ingata_, were rapidly approaching, having jumped back into normal space a few minutes out from the ancestral haunt of those who danced in the dark. In another few minutes, they would be close enough to begin running detailed scans of Z'ha'dum, searching for any sign that the prophecy given to the Minbari nearly a thousand years ago by the greatest of them to ever live, a Minbari not born of Minbari, Valen himself, before his disappearance and presumed death. The prophecy that the Shadows were returning and preparing once again to wage war against the forces of Light.

Watching the planet grow ever bigger on the display, Delenn would be lying if she said that she wasn't getting increasingly nervous about being in this place. A glance around showed her that the other members of the Grey Council were equally nervous beneath their hooded robes. Deep down in their very souls, they knew that, whether the Shadows were here or not, this was a dark place.

"Satai," a voice said from the hidden overhead speakers, the voice belonging to the Shai Alyt who commanded the ship. "We are now within scanning range of the planet."

"Very well," Dukhat replied from where he stood in the centre of the circle formed by the rest of the nine. "You may begin running scans of the planet."

"Yes, master."

"I very much doubt we will find anything," Satai Morann of the warrior caste Wind Swords clan said, slipping off his hood as tradition dictated he do as he addressed the council.

"We have yet to run our scans, Morann," Delenn replied slipping off her own hood. "It would be unwise to make such statements before we have more information."

"Delenn makes a good point," Dukhat agreed, giving Morann a firm look. "We will soon know one way or another if Valen's Prophecy is correct and the Shadows are beginning to return to this place."

Morann grimaced slightly, though his scepticism was understandable, but then, he was warrior caste, and as such, didn't believe in the prophecy and mysticism so beloved by the religious caste. As a warrior, he required physical, irrefutable proof instead of what he – like other warriors – considered to be blind faith.

He started to open his mouth to reply to both Dukhat and Delenn, but before he could speak, sudden alarms ran throughout the ship. "What's that?" he asked, scowling as he recognised a general alarm.

"Strange," Dukhat commented frowning. "Shai Alyt, what's going on?"

"Master, sensors are picking up a large number of jump points forming directly ahead of us. There are ships incoming, unknown configuration," the distant Shai Alyt responded a note of real concern in his voice.

"How many?" Dukhat demanded, focusing his attention on the holographic display as, ahead of them, directly between them and the planet, a number of blue jump point triggers flickered into existence before both collapsing and expanding into the familiar blue funnels of incoming jump points.

"Six," the Shai Alyt answered, "one of which is huge."

Dukhat frowned and kept his attention on the hologram as six ships emerged from the incoming jump points, and he felt his jaw drop open in shock at what he saw. All six ships were made of an odd honey-coloured metal that gleamed in an odd, opalescent way that made it look more like the hide of some kind of techno insect than the hull of a starship. All were odd vaguely organic shapes like Minbari ships, but whereas Minbari warships combined beauty and elegance with predatory fierceness, these things seemed to combine organic curves and lines in a way that screamed the dark and dangerous nature of the beings within. A dense cloud of odd dart-like fighters with a bizarre blue crystal at their tips buzzed around them in a tight escort formation.

What was especially shocking about them though was the sheer size of the ships. All of them were huge, longer by a considerable margin than even Shagotti-class war cruisers like the _Valen'tha_. But it was the giant ship in the centre of the formation that really grabbed attention, it was absolutely gigantic and seemed to more mobile space station that ship so great was its sheer vastness.

"Master we're being scanned," the Shai Alyt reported from the bridge sending a ripple of surprise through the nine as there were few races that possessed the ability to scan Minbari vessels.

Morann frowned. "Are our stealth systems working," he asked surprise, confusion and more than a little concern pulling at him. If these mysterious aliens could see through a system that had been thought perfect for generations then what else could they do?

"Diagnostics indicate they are working perfectly, Satai," the Shai Alyt responded then his voice turned from surprised confusion at the situation they found themselves in to alarm. "Master the alien ships are powering up their weapons and opening gun ports."

"How long until our jump engines are back online?" Dukhat asked. They were in a very disadvantageous position here; if the alien sensors could penetrate their stealth systems, then they'd be able to target them clearly. While both cruisers were hardly defenceless – they had gravitic defence fields to dissipate some weapons fire and then there was the dense polycrystalline armour covering much of the hull – they would not win a battle here. They were massively outnumbered, after all, and even if the alien weapons were inferior to their own – which wasn't a guarantee – numbers had a quality all its own. Defeat and destruction would be the only outcomes of a fight here.

"We are directing as much spare power as possible to them, but it will still be five minutes before they'll be recharged, Master," came the answer, the Shai Alyt's voice grim, recognising the situation they were in.

"Then we have no choice," Dukhat replied. "Prepare to engage the enemy. And Shai Alyt, have all our data records prepared for an emergency burst transmission to the Council of Caste Elders on Minbar. If we are defeated, our people will need to know what happened." _So our people can prepare to deal with this enemy and their masters,_ he thought, already knowing that those ships had to belong to some of the Shadows' allies, some of their dark servants. He'd already known from the Vorlons that they'd begun gathering here at Z'ha'dum – and that the Shadows themselves couldn't be that far behind them – but it was still more than a little surprising, and concerning, that they'd been able to detect and react to their presence so quickly.

"It will be done," the Shai Alyt replied as alarms sounded on the bridge.

"Master, look," Delenn abruptly said, pointing to something that had caught her eye in another section of the holographic display. The display obediently focused on the object in question, and Dukhat followed where Delenn was pointing, scowling at the small group of ships that appeared there, ships that were all too familiar to the Minbari, ships that any Minbari ship – from any of the three castes – would immediately attack and destroy on sight alone.

"Soul Hunters," Dukhat growled softly.

"Soul Hunters come only where there will be great death," Delenn said, her words echoing ominously the thoughts of all in the room. However, before anyone could even think of a response, there came a deep rumbling boom that made the air itself vibrate and the deck rock slightly, but noticeably, beneath the feet of the nine. Simultaneously, light flared on the holographic display, causing it to automatically reset from the focus on the Soul Hunter ships to the other group of encroaching ships…

…just in time to see another sapphire blue energy beam lance towards them from one of the small capital ships. Again, the _Valen'tha_ shuddered under enemy fire, though it was obvious that, for the moment at least, the cruiser's gravitic defence field was attenuating the blasts enough that the damage inflicted to the ship was minimal.

The same could not be said for the enemy, as both Minbari war cruisers returned fire with their primary cannons. Emerald green gravitic enhanced neutron beams blasted forth from the primary weapons fins on each of the flanks as well as just above the flight bay doors in the bow. The beams reached their unknown assailants almost immediately and cut right through the hull of two of the smaller ships, eviscerating the superstructure of both vessels with effortless ease and slicing apart the power cores of the unfortunate vessels, turning them into instant fireballs.

Battle was joined.

* * *

Despite being both startled and shaken by the effortless ease with which the Minbari infidels had blown two of their attack cruisers to plasma and dust, the Drakh were determined to continue with the engagement. Their masters were counting on them to protect Z'ha'dum from any who would try to harm the Shadows until the Time of Awakening had arrived – a time that was due soon, and the Minbari's presence here indicated that the Vorlons and their minions were well aware of it – and that was just what they were going to do.

Immediately, the dense cloud of raiders buzzing around the capital ships broke from their escort formation and began advancing upon both cruisers. Slender blue beams shot forth from their nose mounted weapons arrays to pepper both cruisers with dozens of blasts each. The sheer number of blasts overwhelmed the cruiser's gravitic shielding, so the full power of the last volleys slammed into the polycrystalline armour, armour which immediately functioned as it was designed to, refracting some of the energy of the blasts back out into space in a rainbow blaze of diffusion and absorbing the rest, leaving only the physical impact of the blasts to do any damage.

As both cruisers shuddered under the assault, the Minbari's escorting Niall fighters broke formation and moved to engage the Drakh raiders, their triple neutron cannon arrays blazing. Secondary fusion beam and electro pulse cannon arrays on the cruisers also opened up, burning dozens of raiders from the sky in mere moments, the briefest kiss by the advanced and powerful Minbari weaponry being all that was needed to rip the lightly armoured Drakh fighters apart. The Drakh raiders hit back brutally, burning nearly a dozen Nialls from the sky in moments, forcing the rest to take evasive action while continuing to engage them.

As the battle between the Minbari and Drakh fighters descended into an all-out, life or death dogfight, the three remaining Drakh heavy cruisers joined the battle. High powered dark blue quantum particle beams lancing out from their weapons arrays, slamming into both Minbari cruisers with white-hot force. The Minbari hit back immediately, emerald green neutron beams slashing deep, molten edged wounds in the hides of their enemies. Quantum beams hit back, all three Drakh cruisers changing tactics and concentrating all fire on the smaller of the two cruisers, _Ingata_, while peppering the _Valen'tha_ with fire from their secondary pulse cannon arrays.

The _Ingata_ shook violently under the heavy fire, polycrystalline armour melting and boiling away across large swaths of the hull as the beams swept over her. Angry and wounded, the Sharlin-class war cruiser hit back at her tormentors with everything she had, neutron cannons gutting one of the Drakh attack cruisers like it was a fish on a slab. The doomed vessel broke apart amidships before exploding as the power plant let go.

It was the _Ingata's_ last act of defiance.

The two remaining attack cruisers fired their main beams at her again, the beams cutting through the cruiser's hull to eviscerate section after section across multiple decks as they burned their way towards the ship's core. Hull ruptured and burning, the _Ingata_ began to veer wildly and tumble completely out of control. Small hatches all over her hull opened, and life pods began ejecting as the crew scrambled to evacuate the dying vessel, even as the first of the tiny three man pods pulled away from the cruiser, the Drakh – sensing blood in the water – fired upon the _Ingata_ again, their beams slicing through to the artificial quantum singularity in the core of the once-mighty vessel's power plant, rupturing the containment fields with catastrophic results. Suddenly subjected to the tremendous pressure of normal space-time, the singularity, unable to sustain itself, winked out of existence, unleashing all of its pent up energy in a single cataclysmic burst of energy and hard radiation, turning the ship into a fireball.

The crews of the Drakh cruisers didn't have time to celebrate their victory.

Enraged by the destruction of the _Ingata_, a combined barrage of neutron and fusion beams from the staggering, but still fully functional and thus extremely dangerous, _Valen'tha_ ripped into, then through, one of them, blowing the ship apart.

* * *

**Grey Council Chamber**

**Minbari War Cruiser Valen'tha**

The dull, thunderous rumbling filled the air, and the deck beneath the feet of the nine rocked again; the remaining enemy attack cruiser had slammed a high powered energy beam into the side of the ship. To a soul, the members of the Grey Council were incensed by this unprovoked attack upon them by whoever these mysterious aliens were; they were even more angered that the aliens had cost them their escort and that the hostiles fighters were really giving their Nialls a hard time.

Satisfaction gripped the assembled Satai as they watched the green beams of the _Valen'tha's_ neutron cannons lance into the hull of their enemy, wounding it badly. A follow up volley of fusion beams gutted the ship, causing it to break into two and explode with the same finality as the blast that had claimed the _Ingata_.

"Now for the enemy flagship," Satai Morann commented to his fellows, his face and manner calm as his station demanded, while inwardly, a volcanic cauldron of rage boiled over the deaths of his fellow warriors on the _Ingata_.

"It might not be that easy, Morann. Look," Coplann said sounding grim. The Wind Sword Satai followed the direction the Star Rider was pointing in and went pale at what he saw. The massive enemy flagship was still there, but as he watched, four more attack cruisers and hundreds more fighters emerged from hatches on the massive vessel's sides.

An overwhelming force.

"In Valen's name," Morann breathed in a combination of shock, horror and dismay as it was obvious that this was a fight they couldn't win - not with only the _Valen'tha_ and few Niall left. He watched with a profound sense of doom as the enemy cruisers pointed their bows - and the heavy cannons mounted there - at them…

...and fired.

The ship quaked throwing the nine off their feet to land hard on the deck. From all around, there came the shriek of metal rending and tearing mixing with the concussive rumbling of secondary internal explosions. The hologram flickered, dissolving for a moment before re-establishing itself… a second before the ship shuddered under another salvo of enemy fire, the force of the blasts lifting them all into the air where, for several agonising seconds, they remained suspended as artificial gravity flickered and died briefly before the emergency gravity generators automatically powered up.

Then... there was silence.

"Is everyone alright?" Dukhat asked, rising from a most undignified sprawl on the deck. Moving slightly, he extended a hand and helped Delenn to stand up.

"I am fine, Master," Delenn replied as the rest of the council also picked themselves up and voiced their own state. Amazingly, aside from a few bruises - and a lot of wounded pride - none of them were badly injured.

"Why have they ceased fire?" Satai Rathenn asked aloud. "We should be dead now."

"I would think that would be obvious even to a member of the Religious Caste, Rathenn," Morann replied. "Whoever they are, our enemy obviously intends to board us. Look." He pointed at the sputtering but still functioning holographic display, which now showed a number of pod-like objects coming towards them from the enemy flagship.

"Breaching pods," Dukhat said grimly.

"Precisely, Master," Morann confirmed.

"What do we do now?" Delenn asked, a cold knot of dread in her stomach as she observed the pods - no doubt filled with bloodthirsty servants of the darkness - growing ever closer to the _Valen'tha_.

"We cannot allow ourselves or this ship to fall into the hands of the Shadows' minions," Dukhat replied. "Therefore, we have no option. We must destroy this ship."

Silence greeted his words. Until, one by one, each Satai nodded his or her agreement with the motion, all beginning to mentally brace themselves to die, knowing in the process that they would deny their ancient enemy a major victory over the Minbari. With the uncalled vote unanimous, Dukhat started to open his mouth to give the distant bridge the order to begin the self-destruct sequence…

...only for no sound to emerge, as it was at that moment that the massive enemy flagship exploded.


	2. Part Two

**A Different Kind of Contact**

_**Part Two**_

**EAS Prometheus**

**A Few Minutes Earlier**

Captain Michael Jankowski allowed a small smile to play on his lips as the _Prometheus_ and the rest of her small task force returned to normal space. The long range pursuit of the Minbari through the shifting energy fields and gravitational eddies of hyperspace had been somewhat tedious. In fact, it had been so tedious that they'd almost missed it when the Minbari ships opened jump points and returned to normal space. They'd done the same, and now, they just had to locate the Minbari and try to find out just what they were doing out here in what was, even by local race standards, the rear end of nowhere.

"Commander Chaffin, have you located the Minbari?" he asked after a moment, looking over at his XO and noticing that he looked decidedly less frazzled than just a few minutes ago. Over the last four hours, he'd observed the other man getting a more and more worn look to his manner and features, the energy fields of that particular hyperspace layer getting to the quarter Invid. Had they had to stay in hyperspace much longer, he would have had to have relieved him and sent him off to sickbay, see if they could do anything to ease his discomfort. Now, the man just looked tired, and he made a mental note to arrange for someone else to take over third watch today and give his XO a chance to rest and recover. He made a second note to check on the few other Invid or part-Invid crew aboard as well, just in case.

"I have, sir," Chaffin confirmed, checking the scanner readouts. "The Minbari ships are on a bearing of zero one seven, mark one zero three. Distance, three hundred and fifty thousand kilometres. They appear to be scanning the area."

"Any sign that they've detected us?"

"Negative, sir. The vast majority of their scans appear to be focused towards the planet."

"Show me."

Immediately, a projector field activated, and a holographic screen shimmered into existence, showing the planet the Minbari appeared to be interested in. _Sheesh, what a horrible looking place,_ Michael thought, studying the planet that obviously, even from this distance, had seen better days, its surface scorched and blasted. Even from here, it was pretty damned obvious that this world was dead, and probably had been so for a very long time, which made no sense whatsoever. Why would the Minbari uncharacteristically leave their territory and come here just to thoroughly scan a dead planet? It was pretty obvious that they were searching for something, but what?

He had barely a moment to think about it as alarms abruptly went off around the bridge. "What is it?" he demanded.

"Sir, we're reading tunnelling particle emissions near the Minbari position," Chaffin reported, eyes firmly on his screens. "Readings are consistent with incoming jump points." His hands danced across the console for a moment as he endeavoured to gather more information. "Sensors confirm incoming jump points, multiple ships emerging… holy crap."

"Commander?" Michael asked, startled by the outburst, as it was completely out of character for the other man to swear. Yeah, he'd only been assigned to the _Prometheus_ for two months, after his previous choice for a new XO fell through; with Sheridan getting a posting on an explorer ship with his new wife, he'd gotten to know Alan Chaffin quite well. Well enough to know that he didn't normally swear.

"Sorry, sir," Chaffin replied, feeling a phantom burning in his ears from the clip he would have gotten from his father if he'd heard him swear. "It's just... we're reading six alien vessels, one of whom it's… well… massive, sir, bigger than any spaceship we've encountered for quite some time."

Michael blinked at that. Humanity had encountered some very big ships over the two hundred and forty six years since Zor's battlefortress had first crashed into their planet, from Zentraedi battleships, to Haydonite dreadnoughts, and even the mighty Azashar-class motherships the Robotech Masters had used. Of course, all those ships were long gone. To suddenly come across a ship that, if Chaffin's reaction was anything to go by, rivalled all of them… well, it was understandable that the other man would be shocked out of his normal composure.

"How big a ship?" he asked after a moment.

"According to sensors, the vessel is sixty kilometres long, nearly ten kilometres tall, and nearly four kilometres wide."

"Bloody hell," Michael breathed as gasps of surprise ran around the bridge. With those dimensions the alien ship was almost – but not quite – as big as Unity Station, the headquarters of the Sentinel's Alliance – itself one of the largest starbases ever constructed by any of the known spacefaring races. How could something that big really function as a ship? Oh, while technically, facilities like Unity Station could be considered ships – given they had space fold drives to use as an emergency escape measure if attacked as well as manoeuvring thrusters – they weren't exactly mobile enough to function well as a spacecraft. "Can you tell me anything more about it?" he asked.

"Not at this range, sir," Chaffin replied. "Our sensors cannot penetrate the hull at this range." A sudden warning chirp from the sensors brought his attention back to them. "Captain, the unknowns are firing upon the Minbari. Sir, the alien weapons appear to be quantum beam weapons."

Michael stiffened. "Haydonite weaponry?" he asked knowing that, historically, the powerful blood-red coloured energy beams fired by Haydonite warships had used quantum physics in such a way that it fatally disrupted the subatomic structure of matter, allowing the beams to cut through just about any material they encountered. In the centuries since the Haydonite defeat, numerous attempts had been made to learn more about how those devastatingly powerful weapons had worked, but they'd not gotten anywhere – the sciences involved were so advanced that even the finest minds among the Sentinel races couldn't understand much more than the basics.

Certainly, no weapons they'd encountered since had come anywhere near working in the same way. Had these new aliens, whoever they were, discovered and reverse engineered their weapons from a derelict Haydonite ship? Or was something else going on here?

"Not quite, though they are similar," Chaffin replied scanning his screens. "The Haydonite weapons were laser based; these weapons appear to particle based. They're not quite as powerful as the Haydonite weapons either, but they still pack quite a punch. We wouldn't want to take many hits from these things, sir. Also, we know from data recovered from the ruins of Haydon Four that the Invid moniker for the Haydonites is more accurate than anyone thought. It could well be that whoever these newcomers are, they are also Children of the Shadow."

"Possibly, Commander," Michael agreed with a grimace. That wasn't a pleasant thought, though he knew Chaffin was correct, and the defeated, but defiant, Awareness itself had confirmed that the Haydonites were not the only servants of the mysterious Shadow, that there were others, though it hadn't given any more details before self-destructing itself – taking Haydon IV with it, as all the artificial planet's power generation capacity had blown at once, ripping it apart. "How are the Minbari holding up?"

"They're taking a pounding, sir, especially their fighters," Chaffin replied, "but they're fighting back hard and have destroyed three… no, four of the smaller unknown capitals. The Minbari weapons are quite powerful and appear to be a mixture of gravitic enhanced neutron beam cannons and fusion beams."

"Exotic," Michael commented. Fusion based energy weapons were quite rare and quite powerful; their synchro cannons were evidence of that, though there was a world of difference between a fusion beam cannon and a synchro cannon. The former generally fired a beam of superheated fusion-density plasma at its target, while the later fired a stream of hyper-accelerated and fusing subatomic particles at near light speed. The former was also – like all plasma weapons – quite short ranged, unlike the latter.

The sensors chirped again. "Sir, the remaining Minbari cruiser has just destroyed the last of the unknown smaller capital ships," Chaffin reported, then scowled at the information that had just appeared on his screen. "Okay, now that's just not fair."

"What is it?"

"Sir, the unknown vessel has just launched four more cruiser-sized vessels identical to the ones the Minbari just destroyed, along with around a hundred more fighters."

Michael scowled. "All right, enough," he growled. Four more cruisers and a hundred fresh fighters against one already battered cruiser and a mere handful of surviving fighters was overkill in his opinion. It certainly wasn't the move of an opponent who believed in the concept of a fair fight. "Navigation, plot an intercept course with the unknown ships. All hands, all ships battle stations."

"Sir?" Chaffin questioned as alarms began to sound throughout the one thousand one hundred and twenty meter long battlecruiser, summoning the three thousand plus crew to battle stations.

"I'm not going to sit here and watch the Minbari get slaughtered, Commander," Michael replied "especially if these unknowns really are more Children of Shadow. We're going to save them."

"Understood, sir," Chaffin answered, a note of full agreement in his tone. He checked one of his screens. "Sir, all ships report battle stations manned and ready. Veritech squadrons report ready to launch."

"Launch all veritechs. Tell them to engage the unknown fighters immediately, and Commander, make sure they know that use of mechamorphosis is not authorised; I'd like to keep that as an ace in the hole if possible. Time to weapons range?"

"Forty seconds, sir," tactical reported.

"Status of the Minbari?"

"Sensors show they've been hit hard, sir," Chaffin replied. "The last of their fighters have been destroyed, and the capital ship is adrift. Their stealth systems appear to have shut down, as we're getting clear readings that indicate massive damage to the vessel. The unknowns have ceased firing upon them… and we're picking up multiple breaching pods leaving the main vessel."

"Guess they want to take the remaining Minbari alive," Michael mused aloud.

"Sir, we're in weapons range," Tactical reported.

"Then it's time we introduced ourselves," Michael said with a smirk. "Activate main gun, target the unknown mothership, and fire when ready."

"Aye, sir."

* * *

At the blunt prow of the _Prometheus_, an iris-like aperture opened, revealing the barrel of one of the most powerful weapons possessed by any of the younger races. Tiny, glimmering subatomic particles began to gather, slamming together in the projector matrix of the heavy synchro cannon and forming into a swirling ball of pure destructive power. The swirling ball grew larger and brighter until, with a silent scream of power, it shot forth as a lance of energy hotter than the core of a star. In seconds, the beam crossed the three hundred thousand kilometres separating the _Prometheus_ from her target, distance doing absolutely nothing to diminish the destructive power of the blast.

As the crew of the unfortunate Drakh mothership found out.

The coruscating lance of pure destruction smashed into the vessel like the fist of an angry god. Techno-organic hull armour designed to resist even the most powerful of the younger races' weapons vaporised instantly, allowing the beam to cut into, then through, the metal hull beneath to slice deep into the ship, eviscerating section after section across a dozen decks with an ease that was as contemptuous as it was terrifying. And still, the beam's energy was not spent as it burned its way right through to one of the network of gravitic reactors powering the colossal ship, vaporising management systems and rupturing the containment field around the artificial quantum singularity in the core of the reactor.

As with the singularity on the _Ingata_ before it, the exposed singularity, suddenly subjected to the tremendous pressure of normal space-time, immediately imploded and vanished from the universe, dumping all its accumulated energy into normal space in a single cataclysmic burst of energy and hard radiation. However, unlike the _Ingata_, the Drakh mothership was far, far too immense to be destroyed by even such a massive internal explosion. Had the synchro cannon shot just destroyed that one reactor, then the vessel would have been crippled but would have survived… unfortunately for the Drakh, the blast ruptured the other two reactor cores with the inevitable results, transforming the vessel from ship/city/mobile base of operations into a spectacular, but short lived, miniature sun.

* * *

**Grey Council Chamber**

**Minbari War Cruiser Valen'tha**

**That Same Time**

"In Valen's Name."

The shocked expression from Satai Morann echoed in the meeting place of the nine as, before their eyes, an insanely strong lance of energy tore into the Shadow minions' mothership and blew it to dust. It was an understandable reaction, as it had been a very long time since any Minbari had seen a weapon of that kind of destructive power, not since the Vorlons had last fought alongside them in the Great War a thousand years ago.

"Where did that blast come from?" Dukhat asked, as stunned as Morann by the sheer power of the weapon that had destroyed the enemy's main vessel.

"Over there, Master," Rathenn said, pointing at a distant section of the holographic display, which, despite its damaged state, obediently zoomed in on the distant targets.

Six alien ships hung there in the void of space. They were strange, sleek ships, vaguely cylindrical but compressed and narrower towards the front of the ships than the rear. Each was constructed of a silver-grey alloy with black and blue highlights here and there along their hulls. It was immediately obvious that they were warships, as not only did the ships literally bristle with gun turrets of various sizes, but the largest ship, the one in the middle of the formation, had a blue-white bubble of energy growing at its bow. A dense cloud of sleek fighters was streaking through space ahead of them on a clear intercept course for the enemy fighters.

"I've never seen ships and fighters like those before," Dukhat commented. "Who are they?"

"I believe they are Humans, Master," Delenn replied, drawing the attention of the rest of the Grey Council. "I have been reading some of the Anla'shok reports into them," she explained. "The appearance of these ships matches the description of them provided to me by the Rangers."

Before any of the Council could question her further on what she knew about the Humans, light on the holographic display caught all their attention. They looked at it just in time to see another of the coruscating bluish white beams of destruction shoot out of the largest Human ship to swat one of the alien cruisers – which were moving to engage their new antagonists – from the sky like it was a toy.

"The range of that weapon is extraordinary," Morann commented, feeling more than a small amount of envy of the Humans' power, as one of the alien cruisers turned into energised flotsam under the immense power of the blast. _I was wrong to say not to contact them when Dukhat first broached the topic a few years ago,_ he thought. _If the Humans are this powerful, then they could be worthy allies to us._ "Delenn, if we survive this, would you bring those Anla'shok reports to me? I would like to read them."

"Of course, Morann."

Morann nodded his thanks and turned his attention back to the display, just in time to see one of the unknown hostiles' – presumably Shadow minions as he couldn't think of any other reason for them to immediately attack them, not to mention the ease with which they destroyed the _Ingata_ – cruisers get close enough to fire a dark blue energy beam at the largest Human ship. What happened next stunned him even more than the speed with which the alien flagship had been destroyed.

Before the eyes of the Council, silvery light seemed to flicker along the length of the Human ship, formed into a ball, and shot away from the vessel before coming to a stop right in the path of the incoming beam, whereupon it expanded and changed into a translucent silver-white circular tile, a tile made of energy. The alien beam impacted it almost immediately and shattered, breaking apart and dissipating in a blaze of dark blue sparks.

"Fascinating," Satai Luthenn – the most learned of the three worker caste Satai – said, watching the beam be intercepted and stopped. "Obviously some kind of shield system, but one that's highly mobile instead of being static like Abbai shields are. How do they do that?"

"If we survive this, maybe we can ask them," Morann commented, his tactical mind already seeing the incredible advantages such a system would bring to anyone who possessed it. Who knew? If they did establish a relationship with the Humans, then they might be persuaded to share that technology with the Minbari. If they did, then it could completely revolutionise conventional defence strategy which, he had to acknowledge, was currently far too dependent on their stealth technology.

He put aside those thoughts for now and watched as the hostiles fired at the Humans again, with the same result. This time, however, the Humans retaliated, each ship unleashing a blistering hail of bright blue-white particle beams at their antagonists. Whatever kind of particle weapons they were, they were obviously extremely powerful, possibly comparable to their own neutron beam weapons in capability, as they immediately gutted two of the alien cruisers in seconds. Both vessels turned into fireballs moments later.

Seeing its companions cut to ribbons in moments, the remaining alien cruiser, apparently deciding it was time to execute the better part of valour, veered away and started to open a jump point. It never made it, as a second volley of beams from the Humans sliced it apart, the jump point fading away to nothing as the cruiser generating it turned into a cloud of energized flotsam.

The nine continued to watch as the hostile fighters, now deprived of their motherships, continued to head towards the Humans, obviously intent of taking some revenge before dying. Instead, they ran into a virtual hailstorm of tiny powered projectiles launched by the Human fighters and warships, projectiles that, for all their small size, detonated with a large amount of force, completely destroying whatever they targeted. Almost all the hostile fighters disappeared in the ensuing riot of brilliant explosions. Only a handful broke through that initial cordon of defensive fire… only to run into a hail of bright yellow laser pulses that simply shredded them.

In mere moments, they were alone with the Humans, all the hostile forces present in the system having been reduced to free floating molecules drifting in the stellar winds.

"Satai, we're receiving a message in Interlac from the unknown ships," a subdued, in pain sounding Shai Alyt reported from the bridge.

"What do they say, Shai Alyt?" Dukhat asked.

"Master, they say 'you're welcome' and wish to know if we require assistance."

"What is our condition, Shai Alyt?"

"We have unfortunately sustained very heavy damage, Master," the Shai Alyt responded. "Our weapons are destroyed, as is the aft drive fin; as a result, all propulsion is offline. The hull has been ruptured in sections twenty through twenty seven on decks four and five and sections one through fifteen on decks seven through eleven. Fires were burning out of control on the main hangar deck until damage control sealed and vented the compartment. Main power is out throughout the entire ship; engineering estimates it will be at least a day before they'll be able to restart the gravitic reactor."

"Casualties?"

"Unknown at this time, Master; however we believe they will be very high."

"Very well," Dukhat replied, glancing at each of his fellow Satai in turn and garnering a nod of affirmation; they all knew without having to ask what he was thinking. "Respond to the Humans in Interlac. Tell them we thank them for intervening against the Shadow minions and accept their generous offer of assistance."

"Yes, Master."

* * *

**Dukhat's Sanctum**

Deep in the shadows of the darkened private meditation chamber of the leader of Minbar, two tall figures clad in encounter suits stood. Both Vorlons had been carefully monitoring the battle between the Minbari and the Drakh - a battle that hadn't been anticipated, but then, even they couldn't know everything all the time. They'd always assumed that they would encounter the Humans at the border, not here in the home system of their ancient antagonists; there had obviously been an error in their probability calculations, but time was complex, and there was always a degree of uncertainty in any temporal probability calculation.

Whatever the reason was both Vorlons had been pleased by the outcome of the battle. While the Minbari had suffered considerable casualties, giving them a much needed knock to the complacency that had fallen on them like a smothering blanket over the last few centuries, they had successfully met the Humans. Humans who were much more advanced than they'd projected, but who had been forged by fire into a weapon that could finally let the forces of light and order triumph over the chaos weavers who danced in the dark.

"_And so, the first bond is formed,"_ Ulkesh Naranek said telepathically to his counterpart as they ceased their monitoring of the situation beyond the scorched bulkheads of the badly battered and bruised _Valen'tha._

"_Yes,"_ Kosh Naranek agreed speaking in the same way. _"Now, it begins."_

"_Yes."_

**The End**


	3. Part Three

**A Different Kind of Contact**

**Disclaimer: I do not own the characters that I am about to mangle around for my own demented author purposes. Sadly all Babylon Five and Robotech characters remain the property of their respective creators and I make absolutely no profit from using them. So please continue to keep the legal attack dogs, also known more commonly as lawyers, firmly on a leash.**

**Authors Note: I wasn't originally going to write this third part, which is basically an epilogue to this first story and just refer back to some events of it during the sequel story but after a long rethink on the matter decided that I would write it. So here you all are the third and final part of A Different Kind of Contact though in the immortal words of Sir Winston Churchill this is 'not the end, it is not even the beginning of the end, but it is the end of the beginning'.**

**My thanks to Cyclone for beta-reading this chapter.**

* * *

_**Part Three**_

**United Earth Government Office's**

**A Short Time Later**

"They did what?!"

Admiral Robert Lefcourt winced as the voice of Prime Minister Elizabeth Levy echoed in the air of the office of one of the most powerful women in the known galaxy. The somewhat fiery redhead sitting opposite him looked incredulous at what he'd just reported to her.

"Correct me if I'm wrong, Admiral, but weren't the orders issued to the _Prometheus_ to patrol along the suspected borders of the Minbari Federation only?" Levy said after a moment of silence. "And maybe find out just what some of their ships have been up to probing around the edges of our territory – at least the territory we have in this part of the galaxy – ever since the Dilgar Intervention?"

"That's correct, ma'am," Lefcourt confirmed.

"Then explain to me how they came to engage unknown aliens in support of the Minbari in a system several light years from where they were supposed to be."

Robert nodded back and quickly and concisely summarised what had happened, how the _Prometheus_ had noted a number of Minbari warships leaving their space and heading into the unknown regions – a move that was very uncharacteristic of the isolationist Minbari. How a puzzled Captain Jankowski had reported to regional commanders and asked for permission to pursue to investigate just what the Minbari were up to. How said permission had been quick in coming and how he'd then pursued them to a dark, apparently dead system, arriving in time to find the Minbari engaged in battle with an unknown race – and losing, despite putting up a truly valiant fight.

"I see, and what prompted, Captain Jankowski to decide to not just engage but destroy these unknowns?" Levy asked, frowning and wondering just what on Earth had possessed Captain Jankowski to do what he had done. "Did it not occur to him that he might well have started a war with a technologically advanced species that we know absolutely nothing about? In support of aliens who we also know next to nothing about beyond the fact that all the local races are very wary of them?"

"Until a proper Board of Inquiry can be convened I doubt we will know exactly what his thought process on the issue was," Lefcourt admitted, knowing that protocol demanded that Captain Jankowski face an official board of inquiry after having deliberately engaged someone in combat without prior authorisation from EarthForce Command. "But it is my belief that there were at least two factors at play."

"And these were?"

"One, I believe that it was a matter of conscience coupled his own sense of honour that prompted the captain to engage and destroy the unknowns," Lefcourt replied. "The Minbari had just defeated – at great cost – a number of cruiser weight starships and their escorting fighters. They had only one damaged capital ship and a mere handful of fighters left - all the rest had been destroyed - only for the alien mothership to launch four more cruiser weight starships and a hundred additional fighters which quickly crippled the Minbari cruiser and destroyed its remaining fighters. It's likely that the captain decided to engage at that point in order to prevent the Minbari being slaughtered. I know many other captains in EarthForce would have done the exact same thing, had they been in Captain Jankowski's position."

"And the second factor?"

"I would like to stress that until we can do a full and complete analysis of all the sensor data gathered by the _Prometheus _and her companion ships, we cannot be certain but…"

"But what?"

"Based on the energy signatures of the weapons the unknowns were using against the Minbari, as well as the energy signature of their engines, it is very likely that the unknown aliens are not quite so unknown."

The Prime Minister frowned, both at the evasive answer and the look that was in Lefcourt's eyes, a look that said he was worried by something… deeply worried. "Stop beating about the bush, Admiral," she said firmly. "What is it about the alien weapons that has you worried?"

"Ma'am, the weapons used were quantum beam weapons, and the emission signatures of their engines are also very similar to Haydonite propulsion systems," Lefcourt answered, taking the plunge and knowing this was going to go down like a lead balloon. "It is therefore very likely that, whoever or whatever else they are, the unknown aliens are – like the Haydonites before them – Children of Shadow."

Shocked silence hung in the air for a moment, the Prime Minister gaping at him in a strange combination of shock and dread. _Are the Children of the Shadow really back after all this time?_ Levy wondered, feeling as though her blood had turned to ice at the mention of that name. In many ways, the war with the Haydonites that started after their betrayal had been the most destructive of all the Robotech Wars, especially as, unlike the first three wars, the fourth had pitted the Haydonites against all the Sentinels, and even then, they'd barely held the cybernetic creatures off. Only the Invid joining the alliance against their most ancient of foes ultimately turned the tide and, after a long, and bitter, campaign across half the galaxy, enabled the Sentinel races to finally defeat them.

"Are you sure that they're back?" she asked, shaking off her shock, though the feeling of dread remained. It had, after all, been known for centuries that the Haydonites were not the only Children of Shadow, though thankfully none had been encountered since the destruction of the Haydonite homeworld at the end of the Fourth Robotech War. That some had been encountered now, if true, was cause for great apprehension.

"As I said, we cannot be certain until we've done a full and in depth analysis of the _Prometheus_ sensor logs, but it certainly looks like they're back, ma'am," Lefcourt replied. "If the unknowns really are Children of Shadow, then Captain Jankowski's instinct, even without consciously realising it, would be to attack and destroy them. Alternatively, we could be jumping the gun a bit, and the aliens just reverse engineered technology from a derelict Haydonite vessel in much the same way we reverse engineered robotechnology from Zor's battlefortress after it crashed on Macross Island. We won't know for sure until we do an in- depth analysis. Needless to say, we'll do said analysis as a matter of the highest priority as soon as the _Prometheus_ returns to base."

"Keep me apprised of any and all developments, Admiral."

"Of course, Prime Minister."

"What's the _Prometheus_ doing now? Are they returning to base?"

"No, ma'am, they are not. The surviving Minbari cruiser is very badly damaged and cannot accelerate or manoeuvre, let alone generate a jump point, and its weapons systems have also been destroyed. They're currently stranded and helpless in hostile territory. Captain Jankowski is asking for permission to space fold them back to the safety of Minbari territory."

"I see," Levy replied, her mind already beginning to work out just how the diplomatic service could possibly use this as a way to begin building a relationship with one of the few non-Sentinel races whose power and technology rivalled their own. "Very well, tell them that they can space fold the surviving Minbari back to their territory. After that, I want the _Prometheus_ and her escorts to return to base immediately."

"I will pass the message on myself, ma'am."

"Good is there anything else, Admiral?"

"No, ma'am."

"Very well, you may go."

Accepting the dismissal for what it was, Robert Lefcourt stood up from his chair and left the room to return to EarthForce Command, leaving Elizabeth alone. _There goes my quiet premiership,_ Elizabeth thought with a sigh as the office doors closed behind the retreating admiral. She'd hoped that her time as leader of the Earth Alliance would be a quiet one, as far as interstellar crisis was concerned, unlike her predecessor who'd had to deal with first the intervention against the Dilgar and later the evacuation and resettlement of Dilgar civilians from Omelos before that system's sun went nova – an event that had finally happened nearly five years ago, destroying the entire star system in the final death throes of the sun. The fact that they'd rescued the Dilgar hadn't gone down well with many of the League races who'd believed the Dilgar should pay the ultimate price for their leader's and military's crimes against them. While none of the League would had dared to do anything militarily about it – even the warlike and aggressive Drazi knew better than to court Earth's wrath in such a manner – they had made all sorts of noise about it and been extremely difficult, sometimes outright completely obstructionist, during the negotiation of a number of trade agreements and mutual defence treaties after the war ended.

With all that out the way, she'd been hoping to have a quiet time as leader of Earth. But it was apparent now that that would not be the case. The Children of Shadow returning after more than a hundred years of silence guaranteed that, as both the Alliance Parliament and the Sentinels High Council would react with alarm at more of the minions of the mysterious Shadow coming. In fact, some, especially the Invid, would go absolutely berserk at the knowledge of the ancient enemy returning, rising from the ashes of the past like the devil's own phoenix. It would definitely mean war, as there was no way any of them would allow a race with the same beliefs and goals as the Haydonites to threaten them again.

War.

The prospect made her grimace. While she wasn't afraid of fighting, no modern Terran was, she knew war against Children of Shadow would be a very different affair to the Liberation of Narn or the Dilgar Intervention. Those wars had been more police actions than anything else and thus very different to what, after centuries of peace, a full on Fifth Robotech War would be. She certainly didn't really want to be the premier who led Earth into such a war… but if that was to be her fate, then so be it.

With effort, she pushed those thoughts out of her mind for now and opened another file on her desk terminal. She had a meeting with the Brakiri and Drazi ambassadors this afternoon over a trade dispute that had cropped up between their respective governments, a trade dispute that, if they weren't careful, could easily turn into a shooting war, a dispute she wished to organise arbitration for, as they were neutral in the whole affair. As such, there was much to do, much she had to familiarise herself with before she could propose the arbitration to them.

Elizabeth sighed as she began to read through the file compiled by her aides. It was at times like this that she wondered just what she'd been thinking when she'd thrown her hat into the electoral ring to decide the premiership of Earth…

…after all, the work that came with it never seemed to end.

* * *

**Minbari War Cruiser Trigati**

**Tarellan System, Minbari Federation**

**A Short Time Later**

Sitting in the quiet sanctity of his personal chambers, Shai Alyt Sineval scowled as he read the urgent communique that had just arrived from the Council of Caste Elders, a communique that indicated something so shocking that it was almost unthinkable.

The Grey Council had been attacked.

Sineval was immediately enraged and horrified at that prospect. Who would dare to attempt to kill the Grey Council, the sacred leaders who'd kept Valen's Peace for a thousand years? Surely, whoever had done so would know better, know that doing so would fill the Minbari people with a terrible, terrible rage that would wipe the offenders from existence. And then there was the question about how they'd been able to attack the Council in the first place. As far as he knew, the _Valen'tha_ hadn't left Minbari space, and all the Younger Races knew better than to violate their borders, the lessons of the Streib and Garmak still ringing prominently in their collective consciousness.

Pushing down his rage - there would be time for that later as the Minbari were sure to declare holy war against whoever was responsible for this outrage - he forced himself to read the rest of the communique. To his shock, he found out that the _Valen'tha_ accompanied by the _Ingata_ and some support ships had left Minbari space twenty-three hours ago, with their destination being the dark world of Z'ha'dum. _Z'ha'dum, why in Valen's name would they go there? The Shadows were defeated and driven away a thousand years ago, and it's been uninhabited ever since,_ he thought, before reading on and quickly learning the Grey Council had gone there to personally investigate rumours the Anla'shok had heard, rumours that, after all this time, the ancient enemy was preparing to return.

The _Valen'tha_ had apparently only recently entered the system and begun approaching the planet to run scans when unknown alien ships, who logically could only be Shadow minions, jumped in and immediately attacked them. The _Ingata_ had been lost in battle, with only a few of her crew managing to escape the vessel before she exploded, and the Grey Council's ship disabled. The Shadow minions had then apparently been about to attempt to board the _Valen'tha,_ presumably to capture the Satai, when someone stepped in and saved them.

Had he had eyebrows, Sineval was sure they would have risen as he read that a group of Human warships had engaged the Shadow minions in support of the Grey Council. Engaged and – with almost Minbari efficiency – destroyed the Shadow minion's ships, with not even a single enemy fighter escaping their wrath. And now, according to the last part of the communique, the Humans would soon bring the crippled _Valen'tha_ here through an FTL method previously unknown to them, something called a space fold.

Putting the data pad containing the communique down, Sineval leaned back in his chair, deep in thought. He honestly wasn't sure what to make of it all, especially the revelation that Valen's Prophecy – which his religious caste father had taught him about, even though he'd always been warrior caste as the mother's caste took priority over the father's, well, unless the child chose otherwise upon coming of age – was about to come to pass.

The fact that the _Valen'tha_ and _Ingata_ had been attacked without warning or provocation within minutes of jumping into normal space in Z'ha'dum's system showed that, while the Shadows themselves weren't back yet from wherever they'd disappeared off to after the Great War ended, their minions were becoming more active and much more protective of that place of darkness. And it was obvious from the ease with which the _Ingata_ had been destroyed that the Minbari weren't ready to face the renewed threat of those who danced in the dark. It would take time to get them ready, time that, ironically, the Humans might just have bought them with their intervention.

Sineval turned his thoughts to the Humans. Like all the castes, the warriors knew so little about that species, little more than hearsay and rumour and the occasional long range sightings of their warships in action when they'd intervened against the Dilgar Imperium's invasion of the League of Non-Aligned Worlds. What was obvious was that, as a species, they were extremely technologically advanced, possessing powerful ships and weapons that easily rivalled those of his own people. Rumour had it that, while they had a quite martial culture, they weren't aggressive unless threatened; certainly, they lacked the distasteful imperialism of races like the Centauri, a facet of their nature that had Sineval, and a number of other senior warriors, quite intrigued by them, not that they would break the Federation's isolation to satisfy that curiosity.

And it was now obvious that, whatever else they were, they were no friends of the Shadows and their minions. Otherwise, why else would they step in to save the Grey Council from death or capture at the hands of the enemy? Suspecting that the Shadows might also be on the prowl could also explain what their ships were doing at Z'ha'dum in the first place; they'd gone there for the same reason the Council had.

The chime of his desktop comm unit brought him out of his thoughts. Reaching out he touched the offending device. "Yes?" he asked.

"Sorry to disturb you, Shai Alyt," his second in command Alyt Kalain reported from the bridge "but our sensors are picking up a gravitational distortion forming nearby."

"Cause?" Sineval asked.

"Unknown, Shai Alyt. The distortion does not match anything in our database," Kalain replied, "the distortion is expanding and growing in intens…. in Valen's name!"

"What is it? Kalain, report!"

"Shai Alyt, six large energy spheres just appeared in the centre of the distortion field. There appear to be ships inside them. Wait… the spheres have disappeared, as have the gravitational distortions. There are several vessels now located where the distortion was, six are of unknown configuration; the seventh is a badly damaged Shagotti-class, ID transponder shows… Shai Alyt it's the _Valen'tha._"

"That was fast."

"Shai Alyt?"

"I know who they are and why they're here," Sineval replied. "Those warships belong to the Humans, and they're escorting the Grey Council back to our space after saving them from an alien attack."

"Someone attacked the Grey Council?!" Kalain exclaimed, the intercom picking up the sound of shocked gasps on the bridge around the other warrior. Then Kalain spoke again a black rage in his voice. "Who would dare?"

"That is not important right now," Sineval replied. "Retribution on those responsible for this outrage can wait. Right now, the Grey Council needs our help, as the _Valen'tha's_ propulsion systems are non-functional. Move the ship towards them, open gun ports, and Kalain, keep our stealth systems off line. I will be right there."

"Yes, Shai Alyt."

After signing off, Sineval stood up from his desk and left his quarters.

It only took a few moments to reach the bridge, as his personal chambers were, by design, located close to the bridge to enable a ship's commander to respond quickly in the event of an emergency. Stepping onto the bridge, Sineval noted that the main holographic display screen at the front of the bridge, between the twin pods housing the navigators and the small viewports, was active. And showing a picture of the Human ships with the crippled _Valen'tha_ in formation with them, anchored to the largest Human ship by a beam of gravitational and magnetic force projecting from the ship's side.

"Status," he ordered as he moved past the consoles and settled into the command chair.

"Shai Alyt, Human ships are holding position off our bow," Kalain reported from the first officer's station off to his right. "They appear to be waiting for us to make the next move. Shai Alyt, they've energised there weapons."

"Are their gun ports open?" Sineval demanded.

"No. All gun ports remain closed, and tracking systems are not powered."

A smile graced Sineval's face as he realised exactly what it was the Humans were doing. "It's a sign of respect," he said after a moment of contemplation and with more than a small note of approval in his voice. "They're showing us their strength without being threatening about doing it, so we know they approach us open handed. It appears that they truly understand a warrior's honour."

A crystalline chirp came from Kalain's console. "We are being hailed by the _Valen'tha_," he reported. "They want us to make ready to take them in tow. The Humans have apparently promised to leave once their tractor beam has been released and the _Valen'tha_ is clear of their fold perimeter."

"Acknowledge the order. Navigation, move us toward the _Valen'tha_ and prepare to take them in tow," Sineval instructed.

"Yes, Shai Alyt," Navigation acknowledged and immediately began the process of manoeuvring the _Trigati_ closer to the Grey Council's crippled flagship.

As his ship manoeuvred, Sineval found himself wondering what exactly the Humans meant by fold perimeter. He couldn't help but think that it had something to do with the energy bubbles that had surrounded their ships when they'd initially, and quite literally, appeared out of nowhere. _We will have to find out how they did that,_ he thought, making a mental note to ask a few worker caste scientists he knew if they had any idea how the Humans' alternate FTL drive system worked, as a drive that could allow someone to appear anywhere with little to no warning was a cause for great concern. It was quite literally a planetary security nightmare.

"We are in position, Shai Alyt," Navigation reported, breaking the silence that had fallen upon the bridge.

"Very well. Communications, contact the lead Human ship and request that they release their tractor beam," Sineval ordered calmly, inwardly wondering what had possessed the Humans to call a gravi-magnetic force beam a tractor beam. "Operations, as soon as the beam is released, lock our own towing beams onto the _Valen'tha_. Navigation, as soon as the Council's ship is secure, begin heading towards the orbital station."

"Yes, Shai Alyt," came the response from numerous crew around the bridge.

Sineval kept his eyes focused on the still active holographic display, which was still focused on the Human ships and the crippled _Valen'tha_. After a moment the translucent violet beam connecting the largest of the Human warships to the Grey Council's ship disappeared leaving the disabled vessel floating free.

But only for a moment, as four translucent blue beams reached out from the back of his own ship and locked onto the _Valen'tha,_ enveloping the ship and allowing them to tow it to the orbital station where the Satai could disembark and an assessment of the full damage to their ship begin. A faint shiver in the deck beneath him let him know that the _Trigati_ was beginning to move towards Tarellan Three.

"Communications, send a message to the lead Human ship," he said after a moment of thought. "Tell them that, on behalf of the warrior caste, we thank them for their actions in saving the _Valen'tha_, and tell them that they have made a friend here today."

"Yes, Shai Alyt," communications acknowledged. "Message acknowledged, and they say you're welcome and that they hope to see us again under more pleasant circumstances."

Sineval smiled and nodded in understanding. He knew the Minbari would see the Humans again; they'd shown themselves to be firmly on the side of light and with their power could well be a very valuable ally in the war that they would soon have to fight. Even if the Shadows themselves were still not back, he knew there was no way any of their minions would let their defeat at Human hands go unavenged. Just like the Minbari people would not let the attack upon, and the attempted capture or murder of, the Grey Council by said Shadow minions go unpunished. With the intervention of the Humans, the first battle against the renewed dark threat had been a victory, but the war was just beginning.

However, to fight such a war, they needed allies, and the Humans were an obvious choice, one that diplomats would be surely sent to forge formal bonds of friendship and alliance with.

A crystalline chime from Kalain's console brought him out of his thoughts. "Human power emissions increasing, Shai Alyt," Kalain reported. "I believe they are preparing to depart. Gravitational distortions forming."

Sineval frowned and started to open his mouth to ask a question, but before he could do so, a flicker of light on the holographic display caught his attention. He immediately looked straight at it in time to see translucent bubbles of energy form around the Human warships; for a moment, they remained, then their outlines blurred, and they vanished as the spheres collapsed down into tiny specks of light before shooting away and vanishing into the ether.

They were gone.

"Impressive," Kalain said after a moment.

"Agreed," Sineval agreed. "Communications, send an urgent communique to the Council of Caste Elders on Minbar. Advise them that the transfer of the _Valen'tha_ into our care has been made and that we have the ship in tow."

"Yes, Shai Alyt."

* * *

**Grey Council Chamber**

**Minbari War Cruiser Valen'tha**

**That Same Time**

The nine stood in their light cones as they watched the Human ships that had saved all their lives disappear into the type of hyperspatial travel that they used. A type of travel that – from their own experience – was obviously considerably faster than conventional hyperspace travel, as it had gotten them here to Tarellan from Z'ha'dum in mere minutes instead of the day it would have taken using conventional hyperspace travel.

Slipping his hood off, Morann spoke. "Well, they're gone," he said. "Having just seen and experienced what the Humans can do, I believe we were wrong in our previous decision not to open up a diplomatic dialogue with them. They could be a valuable ally to us."

"Believe me, Morann, you have barely seen what they can do," Delenn replied, slipping her own hood and recalling some of the Anla'shok reports that she had read. "That will become more than clear when you read the Anla'shok reports on them."

"I look forward to it, Delenn," Morann replied, and indeed, he did. "Give us your opinion, Delenn. Do you believe that the Humans will be a good ally for us to make?"

"I believe so, Morann," Delenn answered.

"You are both more correct than you know," Dukhat said before making a slight hand gesture to two figures who'd hidden themselves in the darkness, two figures who'd moved themselves here through some mysterious means known only to them. The two Vorlons immediately came forward their encounter suits making gentle swishing sounds as they glided across the floor.

Shock rippled through the nine as the two ancient beings came into their presence.

"The Vorlons have come to us in secret," Dukhat explained to his stunned colleagues. "They have come to help us prepare for the coming war. I was asked to keep their presence secret until the time was right. Now that we have met the Humans, that time has come."

"Then the prophecy is true; the Shadows are indeed returning," Rathenn said.

"Yes," Kosh said speaking for the first time. "The storm approaches, and the mountain cannot yet face it."

"You mean we are not ready," Morann questioned bowing his head respectfully.

"Yes," Ulkesh confirmed.

"And the Humans will help us get ready," Coplann questioned.

"Yes, they are the key," Kosh replied.

"The key to what?" Delenn asked, feeling more than a small amount of awe at being in the presence of the two aliens, aliens whose presence she'd suspected for a while, given the alternate atmosphere generating equipment she'd observed being brought aboard before her induction into the Grey Council.

"Victory."

* * *

**Authors Note: Well this is the end of this first story in the series. I know people were hoping to see direct discussions between the Minbari and the Humans but those kind of things weren't planned for this third and final part and will take place in the sequel instead – I hope no one minds the wait it shouldn't be too long. Provided the muse continues to cooperate, and real life doesn't interfere I should have the first part of the planned sequel story ready in a few weeks' time.**


End file.
